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Katie spoke with Assistant Chief Fire Officer Josh Fischer about upcoming firefighter recruitment · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Joining me is the Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Josh Fisher.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Josh.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, Josh.
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  Speaker 1: I understand that there is a recruitment campaign obviously underway
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  Speaker 1: for the next squad of recruit firefighters. How many are
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  Speaker 1: you looking for?
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  Speaker 2: Look, we've got to recruit recruit squad commencing in February
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  Speaker 2: next year, which will comprised of twelve recruit firefighters. So
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  Speaker 2: we're currently putting a call out to everyone in the territory,
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  Speaker 2: those who could make excellent firefighters but may not have
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  Speaker 2: necessarily considered it to apply. Our applications are closing this Sunday,
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  Speaker 2: the twenty fourth of October.
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  Speaker 1: And what do they need to be able to do
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  Speaker 1: to really be seriously considered to become a fiery.
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  Speaker 2: Certainly, so we're looking for candidates with a broad range
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  Speaker 2: of skills to meet the challenging and the rewarding nature
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  Speaker 2: of the job of being a firefighter. So we're obviously
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  Speaker 2: looking for more men and women who can commit to
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  Speaker 2: our vision of a safe and resilient Northern Territory and
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  Speaker 2: to achieve our mission to serve and protect. To be
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  Speaker 2: eligible to ments as a recruit firefighter, you must be
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  Speaker 2: an Australian citizen or hold a permanent residence status or
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  Speaker 2: be a New Zealand citizen. Must have no significant criminal history,
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  Speaker 2: Must be fit and healthy. Must have passed either a
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  Speaker 2: secondary education CIKET so year twelve, completed a trade certificate
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  Speaker 2: or territory qualification, or be able to demonstrate considerable employment experience,
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  Speaker 2: so a minimum of two years full time work experience,
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  Speaker 2: life skills, and obviously evidence of interaction with a variety
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  Speaker 2: of people.
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  Speaker 1: And you've got to be pretty fit, don't you. There's
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  Speaker 1: quite a few physical things that you've got to be
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  Speaker 1: able to do as well.
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  Speaker 2: Oh exactly, as part of once you submit your application online,
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  Speaker 2: there's a further five stages before you may be successful
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  Speaker 2: as a recruit firefighter. So the first one which is
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  Speaker 2: our Cardiovascular Challenge test, which is more commonly known as
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  Speaker 2: the BEEP test. So to progress beyond stage two, you
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  Speaker 2: must obtain level nine point six on that BEEP test.
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  Speaker 2: Then there's obviously an of academic and psychological testing before
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  Speaker 2: we go to the physical aptitude test, which is quite
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  Speaker 2: grueling for members or prospective members to undertake.
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  Speaker 1: And I know that you've had a few sort of
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  Speaker 1: come and try days and that type of thing. How
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  Speaker 1: has that gone. Have you had quite a few people
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  Speaker 1: turn up? And are you anticipating that you're going to
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  Speaker 1: have quite a few people? Actually? Really you know put
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  Speaker 1: those applications forward to try and become a firefighter.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, definitely. Those coming try days were quite successful in
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  Speaker 2: other springs and here in Darwen we had well over
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  Speaker 2: one hundred people over the weekend participate in coming tri
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  Speaker 2: day for the physical aptitude test and we're steadily seeing
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  Speaker 2: applications be received. You know. Obviously, being a firefighter is
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  Speaker 2: about building relationships in the community and obviously making a
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  Speaker 2: difference in the lives of people through some of the
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  Speaker 2: work that we undertake, which can include our community awareness,
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  Speaker 2: education and fire safety issues, our hazard abatement, legislation compliance
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  Speaker 2: and many other areas. So it's not just about being
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  Speaker 2: a firefighter. Obviously that is a key element, but a
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  Speaker 2: career with the Anti FI and Rescue Service can be
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  Speaker 2: much more than just firefighting. You know, there's many opportunities
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  Speaker 2: to move outside of that brigade environment into areas like training,
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  Speaker 2: communityfy safety, volunteer management, capability development and also in time
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  Speaker 2: moving outside of our larger regional areas out into what's
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  Speaker 2: known as our track stations in Nullen Boy Tenant Creek.
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  Speaker 2: Katherine Ulara. So there's lots of opportunities being employed at
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  Speaker 2: the Anti FI and Rescue.
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  Speaker 1: Service and Josh, so this weekend is that you've got
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  Speaker 1: to have your application in buyer. Is it Friday?
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  Speaker 2: No, So this Sunday, this Sunday, both Sunday, So you
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  Speaker 2: need to go to the Northern Territory Government careers website,
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  Speaker 2: so jobs dot NT dot gov dot au. You'll find
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  Speaker 2: the current advertised recruit firefighter application, go through that submitture
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  Speaker 2: application and then in time you'll be contacted.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I reckon you'll have plenty of people putting in
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  Speaker 1: those applications and hopefully, well hopefully that's the case. Anyway,
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  Speaker 1: if anybody is after a little bit more info, is
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  Speaker 1: there somewhere that they need to head to sort of
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  Speaker 1: to have a look through exactly what is required and
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  Speaker 1: just to make sure that they're up to the challenge.
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  Speaker 1: I suppose.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, certainly. There's a number of avenues that people can
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  Speaker 2: go to. You can go to our website so please
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  Speaker 2: buire emergency services and you can go to join us
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  Speaker 2: and there you'll find information around careers in Firefighting. You
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  Speaker 2: can also call our recruitment manager on eight nine four
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  Speaker 2: six four one zero one or email fire dot Recruitment
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  Speaker 2: at PFES dot NT dot gov dot.
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  Speaker 1: Are you and Josh aav Thanks been for you guys
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  Speaker 1: over the last few weeks. I know that obviously the
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  Speaker 1: fire thread is probably minimized to some degree with that
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  Speaker 1: humidity kicking in and a little bit of wet weather around,
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  Speaker 1: not as much as we'd like.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, certainly conditions are easy. We haven't had those fire
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  Speaker 2: weather events here in the top end of late that
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  Speaker 2: is driving any significant files. I've had a number of
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  Speaker 2: fires still in the Darwen area over the last couple
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  Speaker 2: of weeks. But certainly conditions are changing and our tension
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  Speaker 2: is slowly moving towards Central Australia where they'll be set
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  Speaker 2: to experience their southern fire season.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and no doubt a busy time for them, no doubt.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Josh Fisher, the Assistant Chief Fire Officer with the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory Firees, thank you so very much for your
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  Speaker 1: time this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie,